Recently, I spent a Friday night watching a video of the
animated movie
”
Treasure Planet
”
with some friends. It inspired me to journey down to Point Lobos
last Sunday.
Recently, I spent a Friday night watching a video of the animated movie “Treasure Planet” with some friends. It inspired me to journey down to Point Lobos last Sunday.
How did a children’s movie prompt me to go to the beautiful state reserve located at the northern section of Big Sur? Well, let’s connect the dots.
Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous Scottish writer, spent a few months in the Monterey Bay area during the 19th century. In fact, his house in Monterey is part of the historic walking tour. He wrote about visiting the Point Lobos region, which is just south of Carmel. And local legend claims that the beauty of the rugged coastal area inspired his ideas for the island in his classic novel, “Treasure Island.” In fact, a map he drew of the story’s island closely resembles the peninsula of Point Lobos strutting out into the Pacific Ocean.
The animated movie “Treasure Planet” is based on Stevenson classic novel of pirates and buried treasure. Only it’s set in outer space with robots and strange alien creatures. I’m not sure what the studio producers were thinking when they came up with that idea, but the result was not nearly as entertaining as the Disney movie “Treasure Island” made in the 1950s.
It’s been years since I’ve been to Point Lobos. As a kid, my family frequently went there for picnics and hikes. I have a lot of fond memories of the place. And watching “Treasure Planet” made me think of Point Lobos, and, well, I decided to visit it once more during the Memorial Day weekend.
At just more than 1,300 acres (including 750 acres under ocean water) Point Lobos is not a large park. But it is a jewel of California. Its trails wind along the rugged coastal terrain where waves pound hard against the rocky continental edge in a never-ending display of ocean power. The reserve also has several trails leading through pine trees that offer a more serene, quiet tempo.
Many forms of wild life make the reserve their home. Harbor seals and California sea lions can be seen playing in the water or resting in the sunshine on rocks. In fact, the name Point Lobos refers to the sea lion’s barking sound. The Spanish explorers in the 1700s heard the barks and thought they sounded like wolves, thus calling the peninsula “Punta de los Lobos Marinos” – in English, “Point of the Sea Wolves.”
The endangered sea otters, always a treat to watch, sometimes can be spied playing in the water or hunting for abalone. And between December and May, with a good pair of binoculars, visitors can observe the magnificent gray whales surface and dive offshore as close as three miles away as they migrate from the Arctic seas to the tepid waters of Baja California.
The abundance of bird species also are a fascinating attraction of the park. Brown pelicans sail along the sea breezes in slow-moving formations. Great blue herons nest in the pines. And small islands abound with the elegant Brandt’s commorant, a long-necked, all-black feathered wonder.
As a child, one of my favorite activities at Point Lobos was exploring the tide pools. As a grown man, it still is. When the tide is out, these pools are filled with anemones, crabs, urchins, small fish and other tidal pool residents that make up a fascinating community.
The vegetation also does its part in creating beauty at Point Lobos. Spring brings a kaleidoscope of colors with the variety of wild flowers. But the most striking plant is the Monterey cypress that grows here. The tree’s trunks are gnarled and warped into strange shapes as they hang on to granite cliffs pounded by the ocean. The Monterey cypress is a tree that defines the word “survival.”
Point Lobos has changed over the years. The native Americans came here to harvest abalone and seals and otters, but they never had a permanent village because of the lack of fresh water in the summer and fall months.
When the Spanish missionaries and soldiers arrived in the Monterey area in 1769, they made the point a pasture for cattle and sheep. In the 19th century, a dairy once kept cows on the land. Over the years, Point Lobos has been a whaling station and an abalone cannery. It was also a shipping port for coal that was mined in the Big Sur hills. But at the dawn of the 20th century, preservationists decided to take action to save its natural splendor. Over the years, and was bought by public funds and money from the Save-the-Redwoods League. In 1933, Point Lobos joined the California state park system.
In 1960, about 750 acres of the water surrounding Point Lobos became part of the park and now serves as an ecological reserve as well as a popular place for scuba divers to explore.
Even if Robert Louis Stevenson didn’t use Point Lobos as the inspiration for his hidden isle in “Treasure Island,” it’s still worth a visit.
Point Lobos is filled with an abundance of natural treasure which far surpasses the value of many pirate ships filled with gold coins and jewels.
